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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

impossible to lose weight while breast feeding... isn't it ?

80 replies

mrsnoah · 28/06/2006 22:57

Is it just a big white lie they tell you at the clinic that you regain your figure back quicker by breast feeding ?

Don't seem to have lost anything since the birth except the weight of the baby 3 months ago!!

Am NOT dieting..walking very fast everywhere but still it ain't budging!

Anyone else the same?

OP posts:
threelittlebabies · 28/06/2006 23:55

IME yes. I am ravenous ALL the bloomin' time, and have no will power. Dd is almost 10mo (at time flying) and I am still a heifer. Had a fair bit to lose pre pregnancy though, so maybe am expecting a bit much!

Original poster
mrsnoah · 29/06/2006 00:00

pmsl
Right, so you CAN lose weight bfeeding only if you have small toddlers to chase and eat no more than an extra apple per day ?!
mind you, has its advatages.. never needed super stylish bfeeding boomerang cushion to rest baby on as have in built one around waist.

OP posts:
Lact8 · 29/06/2006 00:05

Noooo

I eat so much when I'm bfeeding, lots of chocolate, cakes etc. I really can eat what I want when I'm bfeeding, its just when I stop that it all goes wrong

But the toddler part really works, when do you want me to post him to you?

Original poster
mrsnoah · 29/06/2006 00:09

ha ha ha , err. Been there twice myself !!

I am wondering if its an age thing, am getting on abit third time round

OP posts:
Lact8 · 29/06/2006 00:16

Well I'm 30, (is that old?) not sure whether age comes into it. I reckon it must be third time unlucky as its no 3 thats finished my stomach off. Clothes on and its all ok, but 3rd pregnancy has destroyed the skin on my stomach grrr

Original poster
mrsnoah · 29/06/2006 00:24

nooo !! you are just a sprog yourself. Am on wrong side of 35! Side profile I still look pg !
Still, shouldnt be so vain really! Just feel a bit conned by HV!!

OP posts:
threelittlebabies · 29/06/2006 00:25

I am 28, but this is my third baby, maybe my tummy is beyond redemption by now

pmsl mrsnoah at boomerang cushion- why didn't I think of using tummy this way?!

PigeonPie · 29/06/2006 07:50

Well DS is now 7 months old and it must be the breastfeeding which has made me lighter now than I was pre-pg, 'cos I'm not doing anything else other than a bit of light swimming as I can't walk fast or far. I do eat 'sensibly' but I'm certainly not shunning biscuits and cake! Sorry!

FrannyandZooey · 29/06/2006 07:55

This may not be what you want to hear but I lost tons of weight breastfeeding ds. I just couldn't get enough food

I agree the weight loss does speed up towards / after 6 months though, so keep at it

NotQuiteCockney · 29/06/2006 08:15

It really does seem to vary, doesn't it?

With both my DSes, my weight stayed exactly the same from leaving the hospital until they were about 9 months. Then it started coming off, while I was still breastfeeding. Both times, I ended up a bit lighter than before I got pregnant with them, and it seems to stay off. I'm hardly Kate Moss now, but being a stone lighter than I was before I started having babies can't be a bad thing.

lazycow · 29/06/2006 08:45

I did lose all my pregnancy weight (bar 3-4lbs) within 4 weeks of giving birth and I had put on about 35lbs so the amount wasn't insignificant. I was still overweight though (Was overweight when I got pregnant.

I was absolutely starving while breastfeeding in the early days but was so unhappy/depressed I couldn't actually seem to make myself anything to eat however hungry I was. This is most unusual for me as I normall get even fatter when unhappy. Dh fed me completely for the first 4-6 weeks, I just ate what he gave me. When he went to work he would leave boxes of food (sort of packed lunches for me) and I'd eat those and nothing else.

The weight just fell off - I wouldn't recommend it though - I wouldn't go back to that period again for anything.

I then went to the U.S for 6 months and promptly put on 3 stone again in 6 months. Have now lost it again. So in 28 months I have gained 3 stones in pregnancy, lost it again within 2 months, gained it back again over 6 months and lost 5 stone in the last 5 months. Does that count as yo yo dieting?

foundintranslation · 29/06/2006 09:26

Was 49 kg (sorry am abroad, don't do imperials) pre-pg, put on, I think, about 18 altogether, and spent ages, afterwards, stuck at about 57-58 kg. Am now down to 55 - no dieting or sports, but healthy eating and lots of walking. Am not bothered about getting back to pre-pg weight as I was very light and my BMI is still healthy - I suppose 49 kg is not necessarily a 'natural' weight for someone who's had a child. My tummy, however, is one big disaster area - but I never had a flst one, even when I was really light. I'm 29.

FlameBoo · 29/06/2006 09:47

I didn't put on much weight, just size iyswim? I am losing it fairly quickly, but again, chasing the toddler seems to be doing most of it!

UniSarah · 29/06/2006 14:39

Can't recomened the way I just lost 4 lb in 2 days! food posioning while breast feeding a hungrey nearly 4 mointh old. Not fun. he didn't like his feeds being interupted so mum could go and throw up.

Tinker · 29/06/2006 14:42

I've lost loads. Sorry. Am down to a size 10 (was 12 before) But as I'm feeding less but still stuffing my face on brioche think I may be slightly piling it on again.

motherinferior · 29/06/2006 14:43

Absolutely nothing budged after DD1. There I was, looking like a deflating spacehopper, and people from my antenatal group were saying smugly "oh, it's all gone, because he feeds so much," while I whipped my norks out for the 40th time that day...

It did go after DD2 but I reckon that was just luck, not b/fing.

sweetkitty · 29/06/2006 14:46

I'm now about 1 stone 3lbs lighter than I was before I became pregnant with DD1.

With DD1 I lost a stone from my pre-pregnancy weight after she was born, took about 3 months.

With DD2 I was back in my size 10 jeans within 3 days.

I'm the lightest I have been now since I was about 18 but like hunker I'm on the toddler diet I don't watch what I eat at all and only eat when I'm hungry, used to work in the food industry so blamed all the free samples.

Tinker · 29/06/2006 14:46

I didn't put on much weight either - a stone/stone and half?

Tommy · 29/06/2006 15:12

my scientific theory on this is that some women lose weight while they are breastfeeding and some don't.
If you're the type that doesn't, nothing you can do will help.
This is based on extensive evidence (i.e. me and a few friends) but I am convinced it is true

Kathy1972 · 29/06/2006 15:39

Agree Tommy. Based on my scientific sample of two (me and my friend), her weight just fell off when she breastfed and mine wouldn't go till I stopped.
I'm just pissed off at the way they swear blind these days at antenatal classes, leaflets on the advantages of bf etc, that bf helps you lose weight. IMO it's just as bad as the old days where they wanted everyone to formula feed so they told them all you couldn't lose weight while bf.
Why can't they treat us like adults FGS?

hoxtonchick · 29/06/2006 15:41

i lost all the weight i put on after having dd fairly quickly. it's just the 3 stone still hanging around from having ds (my first) i have to lose now....

FrannyandZooey · 29/06/2006 16:37

Well, I think that implying there is a conspiracy to get you breastfeeding, by telling people it will help them lose weight, is a bit paranoid. Breastfeeding does use up loads of calories - up to 500 a day - so if you aren't losing weight, I presume you would be putting on weight if you were not breastfeeding.

motherinferior · 29/06/2006 16:47

500 a day isn't that much... a nice piece of cake will knock it out easily.

KathyMCMLXXII · 29/06/2006 16:51

Not paranoid at all, F&Z. They want to get more people bf for excellent reasons but SOME antenatal classes (the one we went to at least) and SOME of the leaflets I have seen attempt to do this by making out that everything about bf is brilliant, instead of being content with informing you about the very real and scientifically proven health benefits.
Nothing wrong with saying that bf burns up lots of extra calories so if you correspondingly reduce your intake you can expect to see weight loss, but the message we got at the antenatal class was (on a flip chart, so I'm quoting exactly, not paraphrasing here ) 'Breastfeeding helps you lose weight', end of story.
Personally I think this is part of a larger problem with the sledgehammer methods used to promote bf in this country at the moment, which often consist of giving only one side of the story, leaving women unprepared for the problems they may encounter, but at the same time not actually providing any actual support (eg hvs trained properly on bf) to help them if they do encounter problems.

BTW my weight stayed on because while I was bf I was ravenous. When I stopped bf my appetite returned to normal.

FrannyandZooey · 29/06/2006 17:01

But any activity that helps you to burn calories is helping you to lose weight. If you then eat loads more food and don't lose weight then that's not the HV's fault.

It's like saying "Well I went to the aerobics class but it made me really hungry so I went home and ate a pizza, so they shouldn't be allowed to say exercise will help you lose weight."

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